caring for children and families. mind. body. soul.

TaylorFamilyCareBuilding

Taylor Family Foster Care

Our Little Academy

Keystone Mental Health

Our Story

Our Little Haven Story -
Seeing the need for an early intervention, community-based model in response to the needs of the youngest victims of abuse, neglect, drug-exposure and HIV/AIDS in the St. Louis community, Our Little Haven began as a dream of Scott and Kathleen Hummel at the beginning of 1989.  After networking with hundreds of social service and medical providers, it was clear that the need was great and Our Little Haven began to take shape.  After turning to family and friends, a Board of Directors was formed using the extraordinary talents of close friends. Opening in 1993 with a capacity of 24 children, it quickly became clear that, unfortunately, the need was great and OLH soon expanded to 40 children.  As the organization grew in learning how best to serve the children, families, and community, proven community-based programs and facilities were added to increase impact and growth. This growth included:

◊  Innovative solutions and creative approaches using researched based and efficacious therapeutic models of child-focused treatment

◊  Models of measuring "success" were developed and proven solutions were offered.

◊  Accreditation was awarded by the Council on Accreditation

◊  Services grew to upwards of 600 children a year

◊  A partnership with three local providers was successfully formed to respond to the state-mandated foster care privatization process

◊  A Strategic Plan was designed and implemented

◊  A successful focus on "Caring for the Caregivers" was instituted (allowing for recruitment and retention of talented child-welfare professionals)

◊  A sizable gift from a generous St. Louis family established an Endowment while encouraging an expansion of OLH early-intervention programs.

In 2017, the 25th Anniversary Celebration preparation allowed OLH to measure the impact of her services over the years - OLH has been blessed to have been of service to 18,849 children and families thus far - with opportunities to serve the next 18,849 children that need OLH's special care.

Numerous studies clearly indicate that treating childhood mental and behavioral health issues, including abuse and neglect trauma, at the earliest age possible (during the formative years) allows for treatment that is life-long, better for the child, better for the family, better for the community and uses fewer resources.  Our Little Haven serves the youngest victims of abuse, neglect and those youngsters presenting mental or behavioral needs through a suite of programs all designed to offer and facilitate early intervention.  Over the years, OLH has evolved and now successfully offers professional and research-based treatment for the child (primarily ages birth through ten years old) coupled with treatment services for the entire child-client family.

Most recently, a study by CDC and Kaiser Permanente reaffirmed that child abuse and neglect affect children’s health and development, and the cost to our community is significant. Neglect, physical abuse, and sexual abuse lead to poor physical and mental health. The physical, psychological, behavioral, and economic consequences of child maltreatment are evident. Most astounding was the finding that the total lifetime economic burden resulting from new cases of fatal and nonfatal child abuse and neglect in the United States in 2015 is approximately $124 billion.  These are precious resources being used to "recover" from the plight of child abuse.  OLH and other early-intervention models can and do make a significant impact on the child regaining healthy lives for future success and on the community by "fixing" the problems early thus removing the financial burdens associated with the life-long results of "child maltreatment" left unabated.

Currently, Our Little Haven offers these key services:

Keystone Pediatric Mental Health Services is an outpatient mental health practice that provides mental and behavioral health care; assessments, treatment, and community consultation. Children are referred because of mental, emotional, developmental, and behavioral concerns which are assessed & evaluated. Keystone professionals are active in community education for agencies and practitioners who need consultation from early-intervention professionals. Keystone typically serves upwards of 200 children annually. Keystone has accomplished numerous goals including COA accreditation and measuring an 85% success rate.

Our Little Academy Day-Treatment Pre-School is a full day program that provides therapeutic treatment in a preschool setting for children ages 3-5 who cannot participate in a traditional preschool/daycare due to behavioral or emotional problems. OLA is a full day, year-round program which combines traditional preschool activities with individual and group therapy, social skills development, speech and occupational therapy psychiatric care, art, music, playground activities and the pre-academics integrated with support for families as they heal from early traumatic experiences or family disruption. OLA typically serves 12 to 18 kids a year with a capacity of 6. Accomplishments include 95% success rate.

Taylor Family Care Center provides services for children and families involved in the foster care system due to abuse and/or neglect. assess the needs of children and families, arrange and provide appropriate services and move children into permanency within a specified period of time. Services include an innovative approach to service with a  Medical Care Case Management program and referrals/access to needed resources, assessment, and treatment. Moving children to permanency means placing children in a permanent home/family situation as soon as possible. TFCC provides for upwards of 300 children with a 40% success rate (as determined by "permanency."

1989 - 1993

After networking with hundreds of social service and medical providers, it was decided that the need was great and Our Little Haven began to take shape. After turning to family and friends, a Board of Directors was formed using the extraordinary talents of close friends. Bill Newbold took the helm as Chairman of the Board of Directors and efforts began to design and implement a nurturing and impactful organization.  The next step was locating a facility to welcome the process of After almost 5 years of planning, budgeting, and programming, Our Little Haven opened her doors for these very special kids in March 1993 with Mary Crook, who took advantage of Xerox's Social Service Leave Program, as the first volunteer.

1994

In June of 1994, the leadership of OLH began strategic analysis to respond to the growing need for OLH services. A five-year plan was adopted and set into action. In May of 1995, several opportunities arose to allow OLH to act towards expansion. A new building, next door to the original facility, was purchased and renovated to function as the Administration/Support Building. The third floor of the original building was renovated and put into the facility plans. Collaborations were formed with several groups and the Board of Regents, a non-voting arm of the Board of Directors who is called upon for direction, advice, and support, were elected.

Also in 1994, Our Little Haven entered into a relationship with the Junior Chamber of Commerce (The Jaycees) on a national level with the Jaycees using the program model of OLH to establish similar programs in other states. In consideration of this, the Jaycees provided OLH with an annual contribution collected and gifted by the individual Jaycee chapters across the country. While the formal relationship has expired, there are five programs established across the country based on the OLH model.

1995

By December of 1995, OLH could provide treatment for 24 children at any one time and initiated two new programs – foster care recruitment and training and pediatric AIDS respite. Since inception, OLH has served over 150 children and families. The tragedy is that OLH has had to turn away over 200 children due to capacity limitations. This was also the year that Mike Bahlinger (a Founding Trustee) joined the team – an old and successful friend, Mike brought his financial expertise and business acumen to the organization along with his steady, conservative and careful planning process.

 

1996

In 1996, another strategic plan was initiated, which resulted in a third building – the Baby Building. This renovated facility became home for 20 children ages birth through 2 – 2 ½ years. At the same time, the original residential building was also renovated allowing for 20 of the “older” children. The strategic plan formulated in early 1996 included plans for a $1.2 million dollar capital campaign which was initiated in June 1996 and completed in December 1996.

1998

1n 1998, a second phase of the strategic plan highlighted the celebration of the mission; a mission effectiveness process; and, the identification of the core values, which drive the mission.

2000

In early 2000, OLH began an initiative to impact families in a non-traditional method through the Our Family Care Program. This program will allow OLH to impact many families allowing the “at risk” child the opportunity to thrive at home.

2001

In 2001, Our Little Haven designed and implemented the Taylor Family Care Center, a natural extension of our current programs and a good fit with the Mission. The Taylor Family Care Center is designed to include the children’s’ families is a part of our mission to provide the best possible quality care for our children. Our safety net now included treatment systems for children and families.

The Taylor Family Care Center was developed to help families in crisis, help keep children safe from abuse, and move crisis children and families through the care system and into permanent and stable situations. The Taylor family of Enterprise Rent-A-Car Company provided a generous gift allowing for the implementation of this newer program. The building was purchased in February 2001 and after renovation, the Taylor Family Care Center staff expanded to the OLH Family Care Center facility in August 2001. This facility is a one-hundred-year-old building and is only 1½ blocks from the other facilities.

2003

In 2003, Our Little Haven initiated the Keystone Program. Keystone is designed to facilitate, assess, and initiate mental health diagnostic testing/screening, treatment plans and actual treatment for young children and families.  This program began at the request of the family court system seeking a third-party assessment of the true needs of the children they were seeing in court.

2005

In early 2005, several agencies formed the St. Louis Partners in response to the State of Missouri’s call for assistance with the growing number of children and families in the system. A partnership was formed after several months of negotiation and due diligence. Of the twenty-five vendors vying for the new state contract, the St. Louis Partners was one of three collaboratives selected affirming the collective programs as vital and successful.

In late 2005, Our Little Haven opened Our Little Academy, a therapeutic pre-school designed to work with special needs children who can not participate in a traditional pre-school setting. Our Little Academy allows the early intervention model to be implemented in a unique venue. The focus of the learning and healing is on both the child and the family and each family is required to make a commitment to weekly counseling and training sessions with the staff and child.

2007

In early 2007, the OLH Whole Family Program was initiated by aligning community resources to better serve children under the age of 10 with mental health disorders.

2008

In 2008, after 16 months of effort, analysis, and design, OLH was granted accreditation from the Council on Accreditation, which identifies OLH as using the highest quality of services and state of the art social service provision.

2009

In early 2009, Our Little Haven began planning for an endowment fundraising campaign. Called The Courage Fund to represent the courage of both the children and staff, leadership engaged a feasibility study and contracted with a development consultant. A goal of raising $2,000,000 by 2011 was established which would double the current endowment fund assuring long-term stability and a mission-driven legacy.

2011

In January 2011, the Courage Fund Goal of $2,000,000 was met through a single contribution through a St. Louis family trust. This generous gift is the single largest gift OLH has experienced. The Courage Fund was then firmly established as a fund to be governed by the Directors and Regents. An Investment Committee was elected, an Investment Policy was established and the funds were invested per the Policy.

In July 2011, OLH was featured in an article in People Magazine as well as in other national publications. The articles were stories of the children’s journey from “throw-away” kids to dynamic, healthy, young people. OLH adopted a “look at what we’ve all done together” theme to help celebrate.

2012

In March 2012, the OLH leadership initiated discussions in regards to the viability of the Residential Program. After numerous discussions, the Board of Directors made the decision that based on stewardship issues and unsustainable underwriting; OLH was to evolve away from Residential Treatment. In May 2012, the last child in Residential Treatment successfully left the program for permanency. Director Mark Mager noted, “Having been involved with OLH for almost 20 years, I know change and evolution are in Our Little Haven’s DNA. This is simply another example of identifying creative opportunities to serve even more children.”

In June 2012, Operation Creative Care was initiated to help identify the next trail to blaze. Creative Care was a successful opportunity for leadership staff to convene to discuss options for growth.

After several months of meetings, three critical opportunities came to fruition:

  1. Medical Case Management was identified as a need in the community. The national trend was to close gaps in medical care for children in foster care and information sharing between multiple providers. OLH’s response was to facilitate and manage health and dental care for the children in the Partnership’s care.
  2. A contract with the St. Louis Public School system was exacted to facilitate OLH services, through Our Little Academy, for those at-risk children identified by the education system as having special needs. This relationship allowed for OLA’s growth and an increase in the number of children served.
  3. In the state’s efforts to continue privatization of the child welfare system, the Partnership was again recognized as a leader in the provision of child welfare and OLH experienced a 22% growth in the number of children served through the foster care system.

2013

In 2013, co-founder Kathleen Hummel was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award from St. Louis University’s Women’s Commission. Programmatically, the Keystone Program was identified as one of six “high performing” programs through the St. Louis Mental Health Board. With the evolution away from Residential came more space available for the other programs. In July 2013, the Keystone Staff moved to 4326 Lindell allowing Keystone staff and OLA staff the opportunity to use the available space. In August 2013, OLH welcomed the newest Key Staff employee as Chris Munoz joined the cause. Chris works with the fundraising and development side of the programs. His youthful enthusiasm allowed for growth and change as he also values the Mission and brings talents to make a good thing even better. Chris came with a bitter-sweet process as long time employee Maggie Beal retired after close to 20 years of service at Our Little Haven.

With the programmatic changes came decisions from the Board of Directors regarding Governance. After numerous discussions, the Leadership updated the By-Laws and Constitution to better reflect governing practices. The result was that all “Directors” became “Trustees” and from the Trustees, nine “Executive Board of Directors” were elected and would act as the governing body.

2014

2014 brought a sense of renewal and re-invigoration as the key staff entered into a strategic planning process. The organization contracted with a local planning group, Collaborative Strategies, to design a long-term plan to help make OLH even better. After several meetings, a plan was designed as well as an “action plan” to make the process valuable, efficient and effective. The PQI Program incorporated the Strategic Plan process and the systems focused on accountability and make a good thing even better. The Priorities identified were:

  1. Further strengthen program effectiveness
  2. Improve internal operations and management effectiveness
  3. Develop organizational capacity and capability
  4. Enhance community awareness of OLH’s impact

The Plan identified several Measures of success as well as a Picture of the Future. In addition, the Mission, Values, and Vision Statements were all re-affirmed and emphasized for the community’s invitation to assist.

Unfortunately, 2014 also brought the passing of an old friend, volunteer and staff member as Judy Combs passed away. OLH was invited to memorialize Judy at her funeral service and a memorial garden has been planted at Our Little Haven.

2015

2015 began with the Council of Accreditation (COA) re-accreditation process.  The year-long effort resulted in OLH's programs being held in the highest regards by peers and professionals.  As COA reports, “COA’s program of quality improvement is designed to identify providers that have met high-performance standards and have made a commitment to their stakeholders to deliver the very best quality services. COA is proud to recognize Our Little Haven as one of these outstanding providers, and we wish you the best in your continuing work with the individuals you serve.”

2016

2016 allowed the growth process to continue as critical staff positions were designed, implemented and put into place. An Assistant Director of Clinical Programs, Clinical Psychologist, and Case Manager positions were all created and filled while other positions already in place but vacant were filled. There were also tremendous amounts of time and energy directed at renewing three critical contracts: the St. Louis County Kids First partnership, St. Louis City Mental Health Board partnership and the Missouri State Foster Care contract.  All were all successfully completed in mid-summer and the partnerships were re-newed.

2016 also brought another blessing to the kids and families served as the Taylor Family gifted OLH a $1,000,000 re-affirming the community's commitment to Our Little Haven's early intervention process.

2017

2017 brought about preparations and plans for Celebrating the 25th Anniversary of service and these plans were implemented in 2018.

An “Anniversary Logo” was designed and the community was invited to help celebrate.  One aspect of the Anniversary included calculating the number of children and families served since 1993.  After discussions with staff and outside resources, it was determined that OLH had served 18,849 children and families since inception.

2017 also saw the retirements and successful transitions of multiple leadership positions, Fortunately, the implementation of our Strategic Plan initiative included succession plans and other long-time staff members were in place to step into the roles.

2018

In early 2018, a major and significant study, The Adverse Effects of Child Abuse and Neglect, a long-term study by the CDC and Kaiser Permanente reaffirmed Our Little Haven’s role and efforts in early-intervention.

In 2018, efforts to celebrate continued and the Anniversary Year culminated with the 25th Anniversary Gala.


While the years of service continue to grow, some things remain constant at Our Little Haven:

  • Our willingness and ability to care for kids and families who otherwise wouldn’t have a chance
  • Our invitation to the community to help serve these children
  • Our “early intervention” approach to caring
  • Our belief in the Cookie Jar approach
  • Our need to care for the caregivers
  • Our continuing efforts to make a good thing even better
  • Our Core Team
  • Our Leadership

The leadership of Our Little Haven continues to be strong and passionate. The Board of Trustees is made up of caring people who bring numerous talents to Our Little Haven. Many met while attending Rockhurst University in Kansas City and all have remained dear friends. With a strong belief in continuity at the highest level, William Newbold (JP Morgan) continues to be the Chair of the Board of Trustees. Our Board represents many communities – the legal, health, accounting, marketing, social service, sales, and religious aspects of life are found on our Board. The core team at Our Little Haven is our Executive Director, Director of Finance and Operations, Therapeutic Director, and Director of Clinical Programs with Program Managers supervising the professional, caring and exceptional therapists, social workers, counselors and support staff.

Our Key Staff:

• P. Scott Hummel, Ph.D. (Hon), MSW, is the Executive Director and focuses his attention on the administrative and institutional development.

• Michael Bahlinger, CPA, is the Director of Finance and Operations and is responsible for the administration of the day-to-day operations.

• Lizette Smith, Ph.D., L.C., is the Director of Clinical Programs and the Program Manager of Keystone Mental Health Program - she is responsible for the daily therapeutic care of the children and families.

• Kathleen A. Hummel, Ph.D. (Hon), MSW, is the Therapeutic Director, an honorary position designed to reflect Kathleen’s vision and work for the at-risk children in the community.

• Nicole Pashia, MA, is the Director of Community Family Services at the Taylor Family Care Center.

• Sarah Thomas, M.S.W., L.C.S.W., is the Program Manager of Our Little Academy.

• Brittany Brown is the Director of Development and is responsible for inviting the community to help care for the kids and families OLH serves.